This cheaply-made reboot of the decades-old Puppet Master series of horror movies lays the tastelessness on thick in terms of both style and substance, combining a nasty premise with blood-and-guts effects that are both disgustingly over-the-top and decidedly cheesy. Series regular character André Toulon (Udo Kier) is a Nazi who fashioned menacingly mobile, weapon-loaded puppets as a pint-sized means of exterminating Hitler’s enemies. Toulon was killed after using his puppets to murder a lesbian couple in Texas, and now a convention of current owners of the puppets—which have become collectors’ items—becomes the occasion for Toulon rising from the dead and his critters resuming their vicious work, slaughtering Jews, gypsies, blacks, and gays in ludicrously grisly ways. The heroes are a pair of clerks from a comic-book store, along with a girl one is romancing, together with an inept police detective (Michael Paré), who team up to put Toulon back in the grave and deactivate his murderous marionettes. Most of the film consists of a string of sadistic killings perpetrated by the hideous dolls, achieved with rudimentary visual effects that are more likely to elicit giggles than shudders. Filmmakers Sonny Laguna and Tommy Wiklund’s gleefully tawdry movie doesn’t damage the franchise, which was ostentatiously junky from the start, but it also certainly doesn’t offer any improvement. Not a necessary purchase. (F. Swietek)
Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich
RLJE Films, 90 min., not rated, DVD or Blu-ray: $29.99, Sept. 25 Volume 33, Issue 6
Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
Order From Your Favorite Distributor Today: